Just as for so many people, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced
Intellectual Property (IP) professionals to change the way they
work. Remote working has become the norm as lockdowns have forced
the closure of offices, factories and university campuses. This has
been accompanied by greater investment and reliance on digital and
automation tools to facilitate work processes and ensure business
continuity. These changes present substantial difficulties for
those operating in IP management as much of their efforts require
collaboration on paperwork.
The rollout of vaccines during 2021 may help tackle the pandemic
and lead to lockdowns being eased. However, research for this
year's edition of the IP Trend Monitor study – conducted
by Dennemeyer and CTC Legal Media – suggests that effectively
communicating and managing workloads while away from colleagues is
likely to be a continuing struggle for some time. In this respect,
the pandemic is probably accelerating trends
